John Ashcroft to Speak at Fall Commencement December 14

Date:October 7, 2013

Former U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Governor of Missouri John Ashcroft will be the featured speaker at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Fall Commencement at 2 p.m. Saturday, December 14 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

The event is open to graduates and guests who hold tickets. More than 250 candidates for bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the West Palm Beach, Orlando and Wellington campuses will participate in the ceremony.

Ashcroft will be introduced by Susan Richmond Johnson, a 1995 Palm Beach Atlantic graduate of the Supper Honors Program, who serves as Managing Principal of The Ashcroft Group, LLC. Johnson received the Young Alumni Award from Palm Beach Atlantic in 2001.

"Palm Beach Atlantic is proud to host such a dedicated public servant. General Ashcroft has distinguished himself through his unwavering commitment to his faith, family and country,” said Palm Beach Atlantic President William M. B. Fleming, Jr.

After more than three decades of public service, Ashcroft established The Ashcroft Group in 2005 to help domestic and international corporations with corporate governance and compliance, strategic development and security issues. As Attorney General, he led the U.S. Department of Justice through the transformational period after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, he was a member of the Senate Judiciary, Foreign Relations and Commerce Committees. From 1985 to 1993, as Governor of Missouri, Ashcroft was recognized for his leadership of education reforms, among his many other achievements. Fortune magazine called him one of the nation’s top 10 Education Governors. In 1991, the non-partisan National Governors Association voted him chairman.

Ashcroft was raised in Springfield, Missouri. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago. A member of the Assemblies of God, he is the author of several books including “Lessons From a Father to His Son,” “On My Honor: The Beliefs that Shape My Life” and “Never Again: Securing America and Restoring Justice.”